Musical Flashbacks

You know those songs right? Those songs that play and you are suddenly transported 15 years back to a certain place and a certain moment?

It's an amazing thing. I'll get to a certain song, or just a small moment in a song, and bam! I can remember sights, feelings, locations, SMELLS, everything. I wonder why certain songs imprint in your head like that. It's like a musical flashback of sorts, and it has its positives and negatives.

Positives are that you can sometimes feel young again and remember what it was like to be 16 and smile. Negatives is that sometimes you listen to a song now and you think back to that musical flash back moment and you wish you had it back, you wish you were young again.

Examples:
I remember one night my friend Lane and a bunch of the scouts were camping out in the backyard of one of the leaders. We decided to meet at my place at 1:30 so that we could toilet paper...someone who subscribes to this blog who will remain nameless...so I stayed up all night waiting for the knock to come to my window. Well, he didn't show up til 3 or so...

What did I do for those many hours? I played Mariokart on the Super Nintendo and I listened to Meloncollie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins, and the blue album by 311. I recently threw a 311 mix into my cd player to listen to on the way to work and I totally get transported back to that night. In fact the other drivers are lucky that I'm not throwing green shells at them from my window.

I remember the months following my near death experience with my exploding car (a blog post for another day). The whole "I almost blew up and died" thing was weighing heavy on my brain. I remember sleeping out on my parent's tennis court (which at night was always super warm from the day spent in the sun) and listening to U2's best song they ever wrote... nope... not that one... not that one either... you are all wrong... it's off the Pop album and it's called, "If God will send his Angels." The haunting bass line in that song synched up with my soul as I stared at the stars in my back-yard. I can still smell the hot cement. I can still remember looking at the trees silhouette next to my neighbor's lights.

Hey now, you're an all star, get your game on, go play... Freaking Smash Mouth. I hated that song, but it got stuck in your head and I remember it getting stuck in mine while I was fishing for Golden Trout on the back of Mt. Whitney in 1999. The danged things wouldn't bite...

I remember Stroke 9's little black back pack in Brent's basement.

I remember Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" on Lane's boat at the pier in Lake Mead.

I remember blasting "Rocket" by The Smashing Pumpkins on a day when the carpets had been cleaned and we couldn't walk around at home. I drove all over P.G. with that song on repeat.

(Big Pumpkins fan, sorry) I remember listening to Pumpkins' "Shame" with my window open and the rain falling. I can still smell the rain on the window sill. I was following along on my bass. It was a hazy blue outside...a dark blue.

I remember the Cure's "Maybe Someday" on the way to P.G. high after my photo class at Lone Peak.

I remember Gwen Stefani/Moby's "Southside" In Jack's old car on the way to my first 311 show.

I remember Heather Nova's "Walk this World" in the early morning hours of 8th grade on X-96.

Shoot, now I've got that U2 song permanently stuck in my head while I'm writing this. The old feelings are coming back. Here give it a listen on Groove Shark: http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search?q=If%20God%20will%20send%20his%20angels

Tell me that song doesn't strike a chord. Just click on the one that says it's from the Pop album. But make sure to listen to it at night. Some songs just have more power at night.

Gee Bono...makin me cry here.

So give it a try. Think of the when and where, the who and what, of a song like... Sugar Ray's I just wanna fly!

Man I can remember exactly where I was... Where are you?

Thanks to all who have shown support lately for my book effort. God bless you if you saw fit to check it out. God bless you still if you sent words of support. Love to all- Reeves

Wait! My book is cheaper elsewhere!

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=chuck+and+lester%27s+fables&page=index&prod=univ&choice=allproducts&query=Chuck+and+Lester%27s+fables&flag=False&ugrp=0

My book is much cheaper at Barne's and Nobles. Stupid amazon! So if you DO want to buy it do it from there. Sorry if you already bought it at amazon.com

I've been Published

Well, I've been published. Publish America saw fit to work with me and publish my manuscript for "Chuck and Lester's Fables."

http://www.amazon.com/Chuck-Lesters-Fables-Justin-Reeves/dp/1456051970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298337861&sr=8-1

It's just cool to be able to type my name into Amazon.com and find something I did. I know it's probably not going to sell much, if any, other than a few pity purchases from kind family and friends, but that's not the reason I did this.

I undertook this project to prove to myself that I could start something and finish it (gearing up for grad school) and it turns out that I can. I'm really proud of the cover. They designed it. They asked in an email, "What do you want your cover to look like?" I replied, "A picture of a confused monkey reading my book."

I'm pretty pumped about it. Thanks for everyone's support. I'll blog on it again when Hollywood buys the rights.

JR

Direct to DVD!!!

Remember back when you were ignorant and the announcement of an Aladin 2 was the greatest thing you'd ever heard?

What? A sequel? To the BESTEST DISNEY MOVIE EVER!?

Eagerly we awaited the release of the VHS to end all VHS's.

Alas, Robin Williams was nowhere to be found, the animation was sub-par, and if I recall correctly, Aladin's character was besmirched by terrible choices. I guess you assume that after the first one the characters will have all learned what to do and what not to do and would live happily ever after with no more blemishes on their record. Not so.

Well, we all went out and bought Aladdin 2 so of course Aladdin 3 wasn't far behind. The return of Robin Williams as the voice of Genie couldn't save it.

Then Disney went insane and brought us the following:

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (A little bit Jewish exlusive)

Belle's Magical World (Spell was broken, magic was gone, what is still magical?)

Pocahontas II: The Journey to a New World (She brings the raccoon, black plague spreads like wildfire)

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (Isn't a lion's pride its group of females that it breeds with? Is this a movie about Simba making Nala feel like a polygamist wife?)

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (I'm guessing the marriage with Eric doesn't work out so it's kind of a catch and release thing? Judging by the cover, Eric is completely horrified that his daughter is born with fins and a tail "MY DAUGHTER IS A FREAAAAK!" The chef chases the girl around trying to cook her...classic stuff)

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (Tramp named his kid Scamp? That's like a lady named Jezabelle naming her daughter Harlot...not going to end well)

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (I thought they already came true...what was left unresolved you selfish greedy woman!? What, did Gus Gus not get his or something?)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (Still ugly, still sad...no interest)

101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (This sounds like a National Lampoons sequel...probably fairly dirty)

Atlantis: Milo's Return (Never saw the first one, I have no idea who Milo is...isn't that the dog from "The Mask?")

The Lion King 1 1/2 (Ummmmmm 1 1/2? You serious? What did we miss some awkward puberty episodes when he was hanging out with the meer cat and the boar? So unnatural!)

Mulan II (Still fighting for woman's rights, this time starring Jack Black as a lovable panda bear)

TarzanII (Subtitle was originally Tarzan II: The loin cloth of knowledge...it was rejected)

Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (Stitch has a Glitch? Son of a...something...)

Kronk's New Groove (How much more groove could you possibly need? You ended the original teaching squirrel language to scouts! You've got your groove, no need for a new one)

Bambi II (I'm guessing man is still in the forest...Bambi befriends the bears and tears the hunters limb from limb in their sleep. Very hard PG-13 rating)

Brother Bear 2 (I'm vaguely aware of a first one bombing in the theaters...they made a second?)

The Fox and the Hound 2 (I'm sure their kids have the exact same adventure they had...how charming...NOT!)

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (From the title I'm guessing that Cinderella goes back in time and has to make her parents fall in love at the ball. She messes with time and her dad accidentally falls in love with her. In the end she plays Johnny B. Good for the ball attendees and goes back to the future where all is well...and by well I mean she still lives in squalor with her step-mother. Probably would have been wiser to go back and tell dad to lay off the red meat so he'd still be kicking in the future)

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (Ewwww....I'm guessing she hatches out of a bunch of eggs just like on finding Nemo. Half of her siblings get gobbled up by larger predator fish and there's an awkward sequence when she gets her training shells)


Look folks, fact is there is only one franchise that can legitimately release direct to dvd releases and have them rock...and that's the Tremors franchise.

Blowing up graboids, shooting them as they evolve, and now I hear there's a 5th one in the works with Kevin Bacon reprising his role!? AWESOME!

Word to the wise: If it's a direct to dvd release and it does not feature Tremors in some shape or form...RUN!

Sick Day!

When most people get sick they start to curse the world and get angry at their misfortune. However, I usually get slightly excited because that means I get to stay home from school! And now that I'm an adult it means a paid day off work!

Tonight I have the following symptoms:

Clogged sinuses- which contributes to headaches and such
My eyes burn- probably cause I'm currently at work in a basement full of teens and their odors

Sore Throat- not TOO sore, but enough to get that itch that drives you crazy and makes you cough.

Swollen Glands- I feel like somebody surgically implanted two hardboiled eggs in my neck.

Now back in the day this meant one thing: I don't have to share the Nintendo.

Remember those days? Your siblings go to school, you get a hot bowl of chicken soup and park yourself in front of the 8-bit NES or Super Nintendo and you never had to take turns? I loved those days. Siblings would get home and you'd be all up in their grill with, "cough cough I beat that level of Battle of Olympus that we could never beat...wheeez...gag...cough...it was...cough...EPIC!"

Sadly, though I feel like I'm knocking on death's door, I have a lot of responsibilities tomorrow. I have a report to write, a lesson plan that is found ONLY on my laptop, and I just can't let my students get taught by a sub in the midst of the research project.

So I hang my head high, low, whatever, and go to work where I'll cough on my students and infect them as revenge for whomever gave me this nasty bug...COUGH COUGH!

I need your input on this one folks

So I work two jobs. I teach in a public school, and a private school for troubled teens. I think I'm getting a handle on this generation. Man I'm glad I was born when I was (actually I wish I'd been born 5-6 years earlier so that I could have fully experienced the 80's. I was born in late 81, and though I love that era, I would have loved going to high school then and graduating in the class of 88, viva la Boingo).

Point is, I see the struggle these kids are going through and I want to start a school of my own for special cases that I've come across.

1. The Gamers
Now I'm the first one to admit that I LOVE video games...in small quantities. I can sit and play through Mega Man 2 or Adventure Island like it's nobodies business. Teens today however, play upwards of 20+ hours per week. (That's a part time job folks). Their health is failing because they spend hours in a darkened basement playing games that are quite a bit more addicting/violent than good old Contra. Social skills are failing, kids are withdrawing from reality, and parents are getting stuck with adults living in their basement saving the world from orcs. It's now a diagnosable disorder: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/video-game-addiction-no-fun

2. The Depressed and Bullied
Kids are sad. The divorce rate is up, the economy is bad, and this generation's cartoon selection SUCKS. As in all generations, there is bullying. Some of this bullying is going beyond what you could possibly fathom. The homophobic rhetoric and name calling is causing some serious damage to these kids.

My solution: I want to start a private school for kids who are out of shape, depressed, addicted to video games, etc. They would stay at the facility 24/7. Here's how it'd work. Wake up, and hit the gym. Students will spend the morning toning up, lifting weights, running on treadmills, all followed by a HEALTHY breakfast. I've been researching how self esteem relates to physical activity. These kids are going to get in SHAPE


School would require a minimum of a B to pass the classes. School would go from 10-4:30, followed by a healthy dinner. Evenings would be full of sporting events/trip prep, and outdoors training (map reading, survival, etc).

Every weekend would be a trip. This Friday we're going to Southern Utah to hike the narrows. This weekend we're snow shoe-ing. This weekend we're mountain biking. This weekend we're hiking the Uintahs to a hard to find lake to fish. etc

The result of this would be a booster shot right in the self esteem artery. I found growing up that I felt good about myself based a lot on the fact that my folks took my camping every summer and we conquered nature. If a kid had a shot to improve their physical abilities, get good grades, and interact with other kids who are struggling with the same issues, they'd come out of there ready kick life square in the @$$.

So this is my idea. This is my goal. I wanna start this thing cause I'm sick of watching kids fall to the way-side when they are perfectly capable of rocking life to the fullest.

What are some of the ideas you have that could help make this school work? Make a good enough suggestion and I might just hire you.- JR

13...very unlucky. Someone needs to be the Bilbo to my dwarves!

I have 13 followers...
When Gandalf (insert nerdy snort) decided to accompany the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain for the gold, he stopped by Hobbiton to get Bilbo, the 14th member.

Don't leave me stranded guys...just click the "follow" button. I promise to try and make my posts less senseless.

Ok so I don't promise that...that's a promise I just can't keep.
We can chaulk that one up there with, "I'll cut down on my football viewing, I'll stop eating taco bell, and I'll not be renewing the Bush Tax Cuts."

So I was showing my students how to write a research paper on the overhead projector yesterday, and I was trying to show them how to make interesting titles as opposed to just titling the paper whatever the subject matter was like: "Titanic." That isn't a very interesting title, you know what is? "Glub Glub Glub, the story of Titanic."

I had a student whose paper is on JFK. They said, "What do I title it other than JFK?"

I replied: "JFK: One of America's Greatest Minds...All Over The Car."

Too soon?
How about the student who said, "I'm doing mine on Helen Keller"

I replied: "... .. ... .. .. .. .... .. .. The Helen Keller Story"

Then I just started throwing whatever I could think on the big screen.

"This is Why We Let Men Drive: The Amelia Earhart Story" (totally joking of course)

"Retribution for bad Anime: The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"

I love my job...these kids are great!

In other news my book proofs just came back, I'll show you pictures as soon as the prints are ready and I'll supply you with the isbn number in case you want to own something that makes you THAT much cooler!

Who's going to be that 14th follower?